After announcing the official release date for the Nintendo DSi in the United States, Nintendo Company Ltd also made public the release date for the gaming system in the United Kingdom. The handheld will hit stores on April 3.

The price of the third version of the Nintendo DS in the UK wasn’t made public yet, but it’s rumored to be about £150. The handheld gaming device will be available in black or white, Nintendo said in a press release.

In the U.S., the company said it will sell the DSi in a matte blue version and in the black version.

The Nintendo DSi already had tremendous success in Japan, where it was launched in early November 2008. The DSi is the thinnest and lightest member of the Nintendo DS series and, as the company said, it is not meant to replace the Nintendo DS devices that are already in the hands of gamers.

The Nintendo DSi is 12% thinner than the Nintendo DS Lite and it features bigger, brighter, 3.25" screens. It also has two cameras that can detect the gamers’ facial features and their movements so that in-game moves can be directed by exterior movement.

The Nintendo DSi Camera software features 11 special camera effects. The device also has an improved volume and sound quality for better use of its Nintendo DSi Sound application.

The only bad news about the DSi is that the DSiWare, from where the games are downloaded, is regionally encoded. This means that UK and American users won’t be able to download Japanese applications.